Sinn Féin has raised the prospect of the collapse of Stormont and Assembly elections being called if DUP leader Arlene Foster does not step aside as First Minister.
Party chairman Declan Kearney said on Monday that the political situation in Northern Ireland would be "entirely untenable" if Ms Foster does not stand down pending an investigation into the renewable heat incentive (RHI) scheme.
He said there was a “real prospect” of elections being called if Ms Foster did not stand aside.
Mr Kearney is the latest in a line of senior Sinn Féin leaders such as Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness exerting pressure on Ms Foster and the DUP over the "cash-for-ash" green renewable heat fiasco that could result in an overspend of more than £400 million (€469m) to be borne by the Northern Ireland taxpayer.
Mr Kearney, in a stinging attack on the DUP, said the RHI crisis was dragging the political process to an “unprecedented tipping point”.
“It’s increasingly obvious the DUP have lost the run of themselves within the Northern political institutions.”
Cutting funds
Referring to the recent cutting of an Irish language promotions grant of £50,000 by DUP Minister
Paul Givan
, he said “the announcement from the DUP Communities Minister that he was cutting funds for the Líofa Gaeltacht bursary scheme just before Christmas was yet another example of this”.
Mr Kearney said the DUP must decide whether or not it was committed to the “ongoing transformation of Northern society”.
“This much is clear: it is not acceptable for it to continue opposing parity of esteem for the Irish language and Irish identity; promoting institutionalised bigotry; rejecting and ridiculing the need for reconciliation; and treating the legacy of the past as a new battlefield.”
Mr Kearney said Ms Foster should “step aside from the First Minister’s office to allow a time-framed, comprehensive, independent public inquiry led by an international jurist”.
Sinn Féin later issued a second statement slightly amending that demand for a “comprehensive, independent public inquiry” to a “comprehensive, independent investigation”.
"If Arlene Foster does not step aside then we have an entirely untenable situation," Mr Kearney also told RTÉ.
Options
When asked did that mean that Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness would resign from office in such circumstances, he replied: “I think we have a situation where the jointery of the First Office is completely broken and in those circumstances we are going to have to look very seriously at all of the options”.
He said that “clearly amongst those options” was the “real prospect” of “elections being called”.
So far the DUP has consistently said that Ms Foster is happy to have an independent inquiry into the RHI scheme, that she is “determined to clear up the mess”, but that she has no intention of standing aside.
SDLP Mid Ulster Assembly member Patsy McGlone, referring to the amended statement, said Sinn Féin was in disarray and was backing down on the need for a "public" inquiry.
Accountability
“Surrendering the demand for a judge-led public inquiry is surrendering the need for transparency, accountability and consequences for the loss of hundreds of millions in public money,” he said.
“The public are wise to the Sinn Féin two-step. They know the difference between a transparent, independent inquiry and an internal probe carried out behind closed doors and vulnerable to interference from interested parties. They know now that Sinn Féin are in Arlene Foster’s pocket.”
